The invention relates to a holder for credit cards and different items with dimensions comparable to credit cards, further referred to as “cards”.
For the so called credit card format the main dimensions suffice ISO 7810 and the thickness and roundings suffice ISO 7813. This format is used for many cards with different applications: bank cards, driving licences, ID-cards, membership cards, entrance cards, reduction cards, savings cards, etc.
Wallets are provided with special pockets, but this solution to store cards has several disadvantages. The leather or artificial leather can by chemical interaction attack the cards and make them brittle, causing cracking or breaking. Because of the flexibility the cards can become curved and defect in the pockets. If for each card an individual pocket is used, the card package will be thicker then required. If several cards together are stored in a single pocket, selecting and removing of the desired card becomes complicated. Dust and sand granules in the pocket causes additional card wear.
Apart from wallets the prior art also discloses specific holders for cards. These card holders do not solve all of the above mentioned problems in their attempts to create a device in which the correct card can be easily selected.
Document NL 1.000.970 shows an optimally compact device wherein the cards are stacked and are stored in a tightly surrounding housing. The front and back of this housing are mutually pivoting while a spring mechanism presses against the back card. The cards are permanently staggered in the stack. The first effect of this staggered stack is that through an opening in the housing a narrow edge (approx. 1 to 2 mm) of the card is visible. The second effect, in combination with the spring which presses against the back card, is that the user has the power to, if the housing pivots open, simply “browse” through the card stack to select the correct card. The disadvantage of this device is the fact that manipulation of this device is not intuitive and requires some kills.
Document EP-A 0 287 532 shows a holder on the basis of a flat box or sleeve like housing, wherein the cards are stacked in register. This housing has an internal stepped push arm which by means of a button at the front can rotate relative to the housing manually, with the effect that the stack of cards slides outwards in staggered format because the push edge pushes against an edge. As soon as the arm is turned back to the initial position, the cards, by gravity, slide back into the housing to obtain the initial position.
This solution is still not optimal. Removing of the desired card from the projecting stack and from the housing is not easy. It is impossible to browse the card stack. Removing a card thus takes place by picking the desired card by the finger tips, but in the outwardly slid card stack only a small edge for each card is available for this manipulation. The card stack must in the outwardly slid position be permanently supported by the stepped arm. Accordingly, the cards from said outward slid position can not be slid back individually to enlarge the edge to grab the card to be removed to make the card more easily removable.